Morganton Point Campground – Continued
A young, attractive blonde sat
alone on a small, lake-side rock holding a hardcover book, watching
the marvelous sunset unfold in front of us. A digital SLR camera was
slung over her shoulder. Every once in a while she would put the book
down and take a snapshot of the dramatic sunset, then pick up the
book and continue reading in the fading evening light. With the
chronic drought of the southeastern United States, the waterline has
receded far from the edge of the campground and she was in the middle
of a forty foot, barren beach. As darkness finally fell, she retired
to a small canvas tent in the primitive camp site area of Morganton
Point Campground.
What are the odds of two German girls being the only people here |
We met her again the next morning while walking Taz, our golden retriever, and found out she is German,
on vacation, and disappointed the rental office for stand-up
paddleboards was closed except for weekends. With five weeks
vacation, she had flown into Nashville from Los Angeles, rented a
car, and was touring the Great Smoky Mountains. She was sleeping in a
small, canvas tent with no power or lights. I have no idea what her
impression of the campground was, but she was full of enthusiasm for
future adventures in Asheville and Pigeon Forge.
The tent campsites – A through F – have the best views of the lake in my opinion, and the young German girl, who looked like she stepped out of a fashion magazine ad, was camped at F, right on the point. While she had the most scenic view, we could not see the lake from site 24, but it was just a short walk to the lake. I would not have picked any campsite beyond us although the next two sites could reach a small cove. They were downhill to back into, though, making unhooking from the trailer hitch a real chore. The sites beyond 31 are first come-first served and have no services. They are located on the one-lane road to nowhere we explored when we first arrived.
"Bunk Beds" in the tent camping araea |
We walked the short path to the
beach every morning just to get some exercise, but we didn’t find
any other trails in the area. For serious hikers or even just
dedicated walkers, we recommend Lake Powhatan in Asheville, North
Carolina, where outdoor activities are paramount to the area. The
path at Morganton Point is simply a shortcut to the beach. It’s a
pretty good beach, but it would help if the water were high enough to
actually reach the safety rope.
We spent our first Monday just
catching up and relaxing, not planning on going anywhere. But,
not having cellphone coverage or Internet proved our undoing and we
ended up at the Blue Ridge Walmart, sharing the Subway special of the
day just to alleviate our craving for connectivity to the outside
world. Not that it means much, though. Facebook has proved to be a
self-induced narcotic that is easily dispensed with. E-mails have
proven to be 99% nonsense, and most of the remaining 1% are not
worth reading.
Tuesday was a stay at home day to
relax, but Wednesday was one of those days when curiosity had its
reward. Well, to me, anyway. Ilse was a good sport and tagged along
dutifully as I went searching for a meeting I saw mentioned in a
local newspaper article.
Wednesdays, and only on Wednesdays, from
around 10:00 am until whoever has the keys gets hungry and leaves for
lunch, the Tri-State Model Railroaders have a work day on their 22
foot wide by 37 foot long HO model train layout at nearby Mineral
Bluff. The layout is in the oldest building in Fannin County,
Georgia, appropriately enough, the original Mineral Bluff’s
Louisville and Nashville railroad depot. We were graciously given an
in-depth tour of the detailed layout by Thomas Roskelly, a former
U.S. Army Special Forces member turned model train enthusiast. The
layout models the L&N railroad that serviced the area, and the
detail on the layout is just astonishing. They have an official open
house for the general public every 3rd Saturday.
There is a short video posted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9gGFxDEmPk
There is a short video posted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9gGFxDEmPk
We then toodled - ie: drove slowly enjoying the countryside - up the road from there
to the nearby McCaysville, GA/Coppertown, TN, the current terminus of the Blue Ridge Scenic Railroad, the railroad the HO Layout is modeled after. We returned to Blue Ridge on
an alternate route, stopping by the entrepreneurial,
renowned Mercier Orchards. This facility rivals many tourist
attractions in Florida – well, except for Disney and its peers,
perhaps, - for consumer consumption of country images and home-spun
illusion. Tourists from Atlanta and points south dominated the
parking areas. This place is a Cracker Barrel on steroids, without
the restaurant.
One thing that we thought was odd,
they’re are far fewer Florida license plates than the last time we
were here. We noticed the same phenomena in Asheville. We saw very
few Florida license plates the two weeks we spent there, while years
ago they were everywhere. Where are they? Did they all go to
Hiawassee or Murphy? Just an observation before we headed back to our
tranquil little corner of Lake Blue Ridge.
Our German friend had checked out
by the time we returned to the campground, headed for the Smoky
Mountain National Park. I seriously doubt she was looking for a model
railroad layout.
George
Next: Back to Vogel – Is it what
we remembered? at:
http://sleepstwo.blogspot.com/2016/09/return-to-vogel-state-park.html
http://sleepstwo.blogspot.com/2016/09/return-to-vogel-state-park.html
Always a great story George!!!
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